Fantasy The Land of Lynthia

[KatsaNovari]

The tin man's voice rang clearly in room, and his tone and skepticism was one King Jair expected after giving his proposal. He waited until he finished to speak, his mouth open to provide the words to explain when he was interrupted by the opening of the double doors into the room. King Jair blinked, mouth left open from his surprise, not from being interrupted again by a late comer but from the appearance of the new arrival herself. Her height was incredible, not just for a woman but even for that of a man. With this was added by the talons that could be seen that clicked against the tiled floor. She strode in much more confidently than how Cathy entered, helping herself to the food on the table. Which wasn't an issue, and why there was a feast in the first place, but as she spoke King Jair couldn't make heads nor tails of what it was she was trying to say. He was still watching her for a moment, then finally closed his mouth and cleared his throat. Returning a smile, he gave a slight nod and spoke, "Yes, well... You must be Juli-Rit-En. A pleasure to meet you. We have only just started, so I'm sure we can catch you up if you're lost or need an explanation."


"To answer your statement," he turned back to Riese, "what I expect is an effort at the very least. Victory will be dependent on how well all of you work together, and not rely on sole strength alone. While still important, that's not what's needed here, and each of you had defeated these creatures in your own way. It's these skills, when combined together, that brings me hope that progress will finally be made and we can stop these creatures, the Xillies as they're popularly known as, for good. Not just brought down for a time only to have them come back and in greater numbers."


King Jair then turned to Cathy. "Enough so that you'd be able to live very comfortably in Lynthia. Exact numbers will be given once and if you succeed in this mission, but that much is for certain."


Placing his elbows on the table and interlacing his fingers together, King Jair closed his eyes for a moment. After a few seconds of this, he broke the silence yet again but kept his eyes closed. "As I stated, this will be a dangerous mission, and one where you will have to rely on each other. If you have families to get back to, other things to do, or simply do not wish to partake, leave now. I will say again, you are not expected nor ordered to accept this mission, you are free to choose, and you will not be judged on your decision or provide an explanation."


He did not open his eyes. A minute of silence followed, then the sound of two chairs being pushed back. Without a word or glance, both Ajax and Riese stood and headed to the door, and King Jair made no move to stop them or even see whom it was that was leaving. One of the knights situated at the doors leaned to the side to open it for them both, and once they left, closed it again. There was a few more minutes of silence, and then King Jair at last opened his eyes. He glanced around the table to those who remained, steely eyes passive yet thoughtful as he took each individual in. Finally, he nodded. "Does this mean the rest of you have decided to accept?"


Raven had been lost in her own thoughts as she contemplated her options. It was a surprise she was debating it at all, and she was almost tempted to get up and walk out the first chance she got. But even as King Jair waited for them to take that chance, and the two men took their leave, there she remained. She was shuffling through her thoughts as the King continued to speak, and as she was given one last chance to leave, she turned to him and spoke for the first time. "What are the benefits, if there are any, should we accept? Will we be able to have lodgings, for instance, and question people?"


"Lodgings, food, and supplies will, unfortunately, still rely on your own source of income, just as it is for most of my knights unless said otherwise. I do not approve of taking advantage of my people and taking things for free when my men can afford it. However, there are exceptions to certain places, if you come across them, that will provide you with shelter or supplies should you need them without having to pay for them. These locations will be provided to you along with the decree which I'll get to now. This decree will allow you to shop and have access to the places I mentioned previously, as well as question people and animals that speak on the matter of Xillies and other information you may need that will link you to them. This only gives you certain power, however. You aren't knights, so can't warrant arrests, interrogations, or search houses whether you feel them necessary or not. If, for some reason, you feel like you need to do any of these, you bring the matter to a Knight General or other high rank, present your case, and then go from there. This decree, with my seal and signature of approval, will also allow you to accept other members into your band if you deem them trustworthy and helpful to your cause."


Raven nodded, as if suspecting this were the case. Again she drifted into silence as she debated on her answer. Truth be told, the only reason she had any interest at all was because of the possibility of studying these strange creatures. She was fascinated by them, intrigued by their origin and where they came from. The chances of them being the very same Xillies in the past was uncanny, but not entirely impossible. Little info was provided on them from the past, but she could make up for it now, gain the knowledge needed to banish these creatures from mystery and chase away the fear they caused others because of this. She had no doubt that, once she became involved, the mystery of the Xillies would be solved with a solution to their destruction, if it came to that. If there was something she didn't know about, Raven did all she could to find out about it. Resigned, the mage gave her answer.


"I accept."

 

[mechanimated]

Throughout the king's speech, Jules kept steadily stuffing her face. Despite lacking the enthusiastic speed or debris production of Ajax, she managed to put away easily as much food as the muscular giant did. It took a hell of a lot of caloric input to sustain a nearly 7 foot tall frame, and that was without the additional energy costs of using vitality magic. Juli found it hard to focus very hard on the words of her monarch when the table was so delectably well-stocked. She managed to "Mm-hm" and "Mmm!" every once in a while to indicate that she was definitely listening super carefully, occasionally throwing in a nod or other gesture of approval (usually a "do go on" sort of wave with whatever piece of food she was holding at the time).


It sounded like the rag-tag little crew would be endowed with considerably less legal power than Juli had expected. Shame. She had been looking forward to kicking down some doors and demanding answers, that sort of thing, but it looked like it was back to sleuthing and tracking the hard way. Speaking of which...


It took Juli a minute or two to overcome herself and put down the grub, though she did almost shed a tear. Honestly, the grilled swordfish was some of the best she had ever tasted, and to stop eating the swan liver pate willingly rather than as a result of it no longer being in supply was a crime. It was probably worth conquering a country just for the royal food. First thing I'm doing with my reward, thought Jules, is hiring an army of chefs and stocking a larder. With her mouth finally free, she was free to speak.


"Yes, yes, I accept and all that, very honored, yes- But more importantly...why the pretense of mere exterminators?"


Juli flicked her eyes left and right, glancing at her table-mates and grinning slyly. There was an air of fox-like mischievousness about her, like that of a schemer about to let you in on a con.


"I'm sure everyone here has noticed the, ah, unusual patterns of attacks. People disappearing without a trace? Xillies appearing out of nowhere, vanishing into nowhere, after being gone for so long that they had been relegated almost exclusively to bedtime stories for naughty children? These people are being taken somewhere. Or should I say, being taken to someone. It seems obvious to me that these things are organized and directed by some greater intellect. And here's another curious detail...You see, after I left home, I passed through several other towns. Some had been struck by Xillies, some hadn't. What I noticed was that every town that had experienced disappearances also had...hm, how do I put it, 'people of note' living in it. Mages, esteemed warriors, oracles, healers...Without fail, the Xillies ignored places that had only perfectly ordinary people living there. My personal suspicion is that these Xillies have a master who is looking for someone, or maybe a type of someone, but the damn things themselves are too stupid to know who to take. They are directed to a place, and then just start kidnapping people until they get the right one. So, Your Highness, I was wondering if even you know what exactly you're sending us into. Is there any information that suggests my theory is correct, that points to who or at least where this mastermind might be?"


Juli concluded this unusually lengthy monologue by immediately shoving an entire raspberry and egg custard tart into her mouth.

 

[KatsaNovari]

When the very tall, swamp woman spoke, Raven's gaze flickered over to her. The mage made the assumption based on her appearance, there were several signs that told her where this woman most likely came from, and it had to be from one of the swamps to the west of Lynthia, in the plains. Of course, there was always the possibility that she was wrong, but that was rare. Regardless of what her origin was, the mage took her into consideration, not sure what to make of this odd character. Her table manners were about as bad as Ajax's had been, yet when she spoke, she did so with clear intelligence. The impression was ruined slightly when she then stuffed a custard tart down her throat, but if anyone knew not to judge a book by its cover, it was Raven. Even so, however, some details were important, such as how she looked at them before speaking her questions to the King. While she remained silent, she made special note to keep an eye on this woman.


King Jair, meanwhile, met this woman's gaze with the same expression, not a brow twitching or his lips moving. His steely-gaze that invoked discipline yet reassurance at the same time gave her the utmost attention, occasionally giving a nod of his head to show he was listening. If he found anything odd about her behavior or strange demeanor, he didn't show it. He remained professional, and when she finished speaking, he let the silence drift between them as if he were considering her words.


"You missed half the meeting, so unfortunately you weren't here to listen to the topic that addressed your concerns of your first observation," he eventually spoke. "As I mentioned previously as well, we already have the suspicion that someone else is behind this, and it could very well be a group of people. That is part of your mission, to find out who. As for their reasons for doing this, there are several hypothesis we've come up with as well, one or two of which involve your own. However, that's all they are at the moment. Hypothesis's. It's important we remain open minded to any possibility, but we shouldn't be making educated guesses when we still have too little to go on. As for your concerns on what I'm sending you into, I did warn it was going to be dangerous, and that death could be a possibility. This is why you will be choosing of your own free will. But that is why we need that sort of thinking, especially when it's going to be your job to discover the answers. As I said, my men and I will be providing aid where its needed, and we'll still be looking into it ourselves, but all of you will have the flexibility as well as discreetness to be able to find out more. That's the hope at least. All of that said, however, let me make it clear that any one of you is free to abandon this quest at any given point in time. Your life will most likely be danger, don't take this mission lightly."


The king tilted his head to the side and made a gesture with his fingers. The knight that had come in with him and had been standing behind him through the entire thing stepped forward, an envelope in his hands. With another gesture from the king, he walked over to the mage, whom was closes. Raven held out her hand to accept the envelope, visage revealing nothing. Once it was in her hands, the knight bowed his head, then stepped back into place. King Jair acknowledged the envelope with a hand before speaking again. "That is the decree I mentioned earlier. To answer your last question," he turned back to Juli, "if we did, we wouldn't be here now. However, I know of a place you can go to get clues. To the southwest of here is a small town known as Leih-Lay. There you will find an Academy dedicated to the knights, a place where many may go to train to be a knight themselves. There are many there, recruits and veterans alike, who have had many counters with these... 'Xillies'."


There was a slight change upon King Jair's visage, a look of disapproval or dislike. He didn't enjoy the thought of these creatures being thought of as ancient beings from the past, especially considering how dark that time had been, but he couldn't stop the name from spreading. The similarities were uncanny as well, but even so, he felt it was better to not provoke even more fear or superstition from creatures that had been long gone, especially if it turned out they weren't the same thing. For now, however, he pushed the thought aside. The issue at hand had to be dealt with first. Whatever these creatures were called didn't matter, just their actions. "I recommend going there and asking them questions. Meet with the headmaster there first, Headmaster Sulven. Show him the decree, and he'll provide you with any information he deems necessary, and grant you permission to question the others. Of course, this is only my recommendation. You don't have to. What you decide to do will be up to you."


"Now then," King Jair pushed back on his seat and rose. Adjusting the cuffs on his wrists, he looked to the assembly once more. "That will be all. I apologize for the abrupt departure, I don't mean to be rude, but a country needs to be run and I have other duties to attend. I'm afraid I've lingered here a bit longer than I've meant to. Feel free to remain if you like and finish eating, if you have any questions, Sir Roland here will be more than happy to assist you." He gestured to the knight who had been standing behind him, whom saluted. "You will be escorted out once you're ready to leave as well. Well then, I leave you to it."


With that, the king made his way back to the double doors, the two knights on either side opening them for him and shutting them close behind.

 

[TheJipan]

With his long speech of dangers and the challenges that lie ahead finally over, the King wasted not a moment in leaving the room for whatever duties await him. One would have thought that a matter of the lives and deaths of everyone in his Kingdom at the hands of an evil not seen in so many year would take precedence over just about everything, but whatever King Jair had to do, it seemed to be of even greater importance. The rag-tag team of 'heroes' were all left to ponder upon his words, to considers the dangers he had described before reaching their final decision and embarking on this most trying of adventures. That is, all but one of them. Catherine White hadn't even been listening to his words, far more concerned about what she could get with all these promised riches. She had no doubt that she was going to join them on this mission, after all. She simply sat there, oblivious even to the King's untimely departure. She no longer had an interest in those sat at the table, or even in warnings about the horrors that lie in wait for them all. If one was to look at her at this moment, they would see her eyes staring off into the distance, and one might even be mistaken for seeing them sparkle in anticipation for the rewards promised at the end.


(Without anything more to react upon, this is all I can write. I do hope it isn't too short.)

 

[Thinslayer]

Ancient creatures...


Hive intellect...


Kidnapping of the gifted...





Fang pondered these clues following the king's departure. Suppose someone was, in fact, controlling the Xillies. What would they want with Notable People? At a glance, it should have been obvious - who doesn't want powerful & intelligent people working for them? The trouble is, sapient creatures don't just switch sides and serve whoever just because they were kidnapped. That's not how the world works. Simply taking them doesn't make them work for you. One would need leverage to make that happen.


Families.


Friends.


Valuables.


People would willingly fight and die for such things. Even Notable People have things they love and desire above all else. They often keep them close by. It thus makes sense to kidnap an entire village when seizing one Notable Person. There's nothing coincidental about it.


All of this assumes, of course, that the Xillies are being controlled. What if they aren't? What do they stand to gain by kidnapping people? Or worse, maybe they're not kidnapping them, but rather killing or eating them? Some animals are known to seize their prey and take it elsewhere before consuming it. In some ways, he found the idea more frightening than being kidnapped to serve a higher power. The captured prey might be alone with the predator, and possibly consumed alive.


The Xillies would have to be intelligent in the absence of a controlling power.


The worst case scenario might combine these two concepts. The Xillies had to have at least a semblance of intelligence in order to navigate their way through a village, recognize a human being, and seize it. Maybe the controller only kept the people he wanted and let the Xillies do what they wanted with the castoffs. If the controller could mind-control the semi-mindless Xillies, he could mind-control sapient beings as well, thus eliminating the need for leverage.


Fang took a break from his musing to glance around the table. Aside from the tall swamp person stuffing her face with apple pie, everyone sat in grave silence, occasionally broken by low murmurs. Fang cleared his throat and jumped down from the chair.


"Well, what are we waiting for? Let the hunt begin."

 

[KatsaNovari]

Raven kept to her own thoughts, mind wondering to all the stories she had read about the Xillies from the past. The creatures now were very similar in appearance and nature of the ancient monsters back then save for one thing: their prey. The mage was consulting this in her mind, comparing samples she read from books and other resources with the info she had on the beings terrorizing Lynthia, when a voice interrupted her train of thought. Purple irises glanced up from the table to see who it was that spoke, and it was the wolf King Jair had addressed as Fang. There was a moment of hesitation, but Raven nodded her agreement. There was no reason to remain here any longer. Although, she had to admit, putting together a group that hardly knew each other was a bold move on the King's part, but at the same time it spoke volumes on just how dire this situation really was. Granted, it wasn't rare for those of high royalty to hire, say, mercenaries to accomplish tasks they couldn't spare their men for, or simply didn't want to risk their lives over. This could very well be the same thing, although Raven didn't believe that.


Pushing her seat back, she rose from the table. once more draping her hood over her head. She didn't particularly like traveling with company, although this sort didn't seem too bad... Glancing over to the young woman who had seated next to her, however, a girl that appeared a bit too young to take seriously, Raven was beginning to have second thoughts. She had that twinkle in her eye that spoke of greed, and Raven was almost disgusted by this. That alone would cloud this girl's judgement, which put the mission in danger since knowledge was their priority. Already deciding to keep an eye on this girl and take care she stayed on track, the mage turned on her heel to head for the exit, a knight already opening the door for their departure while another patiently waited to escort them out.


"Xillies," she abruptly spoke, addressing the group as a whole while her gaze remained forward, "as most of you may know, are creatures from the past that inhabited Lynthia a long time ago. Back then, they weren't feared but revered as gods, and they worked much like that of a wolf pack targeting a weaker member of a herd that could be taken down more easily. This time around, it's different. They're not targeting single members, nor that of the weak. This time they're after those with gifts, that being the only connection with those kidnapped."


She glanced over to the swamp woman. "If we took your guess into consideration, that they may be after a single person rather than anyone in general, we should see if there's a pattern with those kidnapped. Such as their ages, genders, appearances, and what their gift was. If they're after someone, then the kidnapped should hold similarities with one another other then the fact they possess abilities."

 

[mechanimated]

Juli saluted the king with a drumstick and a cheery smile, unable to wish him a farewell past the food in her mouth. Swallowing, she thoughtfully tapped her chin with a long, thin finger. Fang had a point, loathe as Jules was to walk away from a table not yet emptied of food. There really was no reason to dawdle. The mismatched little gang could discuss tactics and theories on the way to this Academy the king had spoken of.


Pulling out a seat and dropping into it, Juli frowned at Raven. Her hand edged along the table like it had a mind of its own, questing for tidbits, even as the shaman spoke.


"Well, I don't know about a specific individual, but I personally suspect that whoever is controlling the Xillies is looking for...I don't know, recruits? Slaves? I think they want folks gifted with magic or skill that they can turn to some purpose. Perhaps crafting a weapon, or a new kind of spell. You're right though, we should take a closer look at the roster of known missing people. See if there's an unusual amount of blacksmiths, or mages, or healers being taken. It could point t- Hey!"


Juli leaned over and snapped her fingers sharply right in front of Catherine's nose. The girls eyes had glazed over as though with drink or drug. Or perhaps lack of wits.


"Are you alright, girlie?"


Turning back toward Raven, Juli not-quite-whispered out of the corner of her mouth.


"I think the king may have invited her by accident. She looks like she's short a few chessmen of a full set, doncha think? Anyway, the furball's got the right idea-"


Juli acknowledged Fang with a cheeky wink and what she clearly considered to be a winsome smile.


"-we oughta pack up and head out. And, er, I guess someone will have to help her? Though she did make it here without a minder, maybe she's brighter than she looks..."


Juli's tone was doubtful. Shaking her head sadly at poor Catherine's predicament, Juli heaved a tragic sigh at the cruel fickleness of nature, to rob a pretty young thing like her of full faculties. In spite of the sympathy nearly bringing a tear to Juli's eye, she managed to continue to select the most delectable-looking desserts for devouring...even while mumbling about "gotta leave" and "really shouldn't linger".

 

[TheJipan]

(Well that reaction was just as comical as intended. Perhaps I do have potential with my comedic writing, after all.)


Catherine continued to stare off into the distance, entranced by fantasies of riches enough that she would never have to wear that tasteless uniform again. Just as she had been with the king, she was completely unaware of the serious conversation going on around her. An attentive person would have noticed the subtle glistening of saliva gathering in the corner of her mouth, ready to dribble down her face in a most disgusting manner. It's wish would not be granted, however, as a pair of fingers snapped quite suddenly in front of her nose, waking her from her reverie with a start and nipping her drool in the bud.


"Huh?" she said involuntarily, immediately brought back to the events at hand.


"-we oughta pack up and head out." said the owner of the fingers that snapped her out of the delusions, whom she couldn't recall entering.


"Are we leaving already?" she questioned, trained mannerisms quickly returning to their rightful place on the surface.


"-I guess someone will have to help her-" continued the snapper, causing Catherine to take a proper look at the person. To her surprise, they were female, though it took a moment for Catherine to decipher that from her bulky and muscular frame. Yet, despite this, she seemed somehow... frail, with bony cheeks and a face riddled with lines telling of a long life. She seemed to be a nice enough person, though that rarely meant that much, given how much of a guise all but the most foolish wear, and given the icy nature of her eyes. She had the look of a traveler, well-tanned skin and functional clothing covering her body, and the appetite of one too, judging by the assortment of empty plates in front of her. All in all, not of very much interest to Cathy.


"I appreciate the offer," she said, throwing some extra formality into her usual mix of cute and innocent purely out of spite for the woman's poorly veiled insult, "but I'm afraid I'd only be a hassle for them."


Now let's see what you make of that!


(I may or may not have slightly forgotten how Cathy is supposed to act exactly. Let's just say she's adapting for this new audience.)